Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: EU Summit, Iran, Gun Crime, Oscars-Helen Mirren, Deportations-Abu Qatada, Inside Story-Al Qaeda plot, Prime Minister-By Election and Police Inquiry
EU Summit
Asked if the Prime Minister would be signing up to a document that might contain elements of the constitution at the forthcoming EU Summit, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that this was somewhat surprising, as we had said in Berlin when we had stood beside Chancellor Merkel that the March Summit was not where this would be discussed. It was an economic summit in line with the practice that EU spring summits were economic ones, and it would focus on energy in particular.
The PMOS said that what was clear was that the first hurdle, as we had said all along, was that any new proposal would have to clear was French and Dutch public opinion. Given that there was an election coming up in France soon, that determined its own timing. What we were all waiting to hear was where Germany wanted to go on this. Any suggestions that were going to be serious discussions on this at the moment were premature.
Asked to clarify that not only would the leaders not sign up to such a thing, but also, they did not wish to talk about it either, the PMOS said that Chancellor Merkel had said that this was not the time for these discussions. The March summit would be about other matters, not the constitution.
Iran
Asked what was the UK hoping to get out of the talks about Iran, the PMOS said that today was more a preliminary exercise in terms of establishing where people were. Clearly, the report to the UN was worrying and concerning, and clearly, people wanted to take further action. We needed to work out how we did that. What Iran should not in any way do was to make any mistake about the unity of the international community in opposition to its continuing flaunting of what the UN had said its obligations were. Iran should not in any way mistake the fact that discussions were taking place as any weakening of resolve. It was quite the reverse.
Put that the Prime Minister had said that he was not aware of any preparations by the US for military strikes on Iran, so what was our reaction to the "New Yorker" report that suggestions that that had taken place, the PMOS replied that the "New Yorker" did not establish American policy; rather, the US Government did. It was against the Prime Minister’s knowledge of US Government’s intentions that he spoke last week.
Asked how the Prime Minister would respond to the Iran President’s comments yesterday when he described their nuclear programme as a "train with no brakes and no reverse gear", the PMOS replied that the danger with all of this was that we put what the Iranian Government was doing up against either this country’s views or the US’s views. This was international opinion, worldwide, as expressed through the UN which said that Iran was in defiance of its international obligations. The PMOS said that it was the world community that Iran had to answer to, not one or two individual countries. Unfortunately, the President did not seem to be wiling to do so.
Gun Crime
Put that the Chief Constable of Merseyside had said that there needed to be tougher action against families who harboured gangsters and who used guns, and what were the Prime Minister’s thoughts on it, the PMOS replied that one of the outcomes of the Gun Summit was to look again at making it a crime to pass on a weapon to someone else in the same family. Therefore, that was one of the areas that we were exploring. There would be other areas which we would continue to look at, and the whole point of the Gun Summit last week was to increase the momentum of the different issues.
Oscars-Helen Mirren
Asked if the Prime Minister had responded to Helen Mirren’s win at the Oscars last night, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had said that it took a very special actress to take on a role of this kind, and to do so to universal acclaim. Helen Mirren was a very special kind of actress, and her Oscar was richly deserved.
Asked if the Prime Minister had seen the film, the PMOS said that he had not.
Asked by BBC24 how the Prime Minister knew the win was richly deserved if he had not seen it, the PMOS said because of everything he had been informed about it by those who had seen it. The Prime Minister thought that people only received Oscars if they did well!
Asked again by BBC24 why the Prime Minister was continuing to snub the film by refusing to see it, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had a very busy diary.
Asked what did the Prime Minister think of Michael Sheen’s performance, the PMOS replied that in this case, Michael Sheen was not in the picture.
Deportations-Abu Qatada
Asked for the Prime Minister’s reaction to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) decision to continue the deportation of Abu Qatada, especially in light of the meeting with King Abdullah, the PMOS said that the Home Office would put out a detailed statement. However, the PMOS drew journalists’ attention firstly to the fact that SIAC had said that Abu Qatada presented a threat to UK’s national security and could be deported. Secondly, the court had recognised the value of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and the assurances linked to them. The court had said that "…we saw no justification for the comments from NGOs that the UK Government’s attempt to negotiate an rely on MOUs was an attempt to evade the UK’s international obligation…". The PMOS said that that was important in this case in that we had agreed an MOU with Jordan. However, the significance went beyond this case as well.
Asked if that also applied to the Algerian case, the PMOS replied that he was not going to get drawn into discussions about other cases, but what was important was that the court had said that MOUs did play a valuable role and were legitimate.
Asked what the Prime Minister would discuss with King Abdullah at their meeting this week, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister would obviously be informed from his conversations with President Abbas, as well as Prime Minister Olmert and his contacts with both President Bush and Dr. Rice.
Inside Story-Al Qaeda plot
Put that during an "Inside Story" documentary tomorrow evening, Lord Stevens had said that the Prime Minister was the target of an Al Qaeda plot, and was there anything new to say about it, the PMOS replied that we did not comment on security matters.
Prime Minister-By Election
Asked to comment further on the reports that the Prime Minister would step down early and cause a by-election, the PMOS said that he did not recognise that story; the Prime Minister was getting on with the job of being Prime Minister.
Asked again to clarify, the PMOS said that there were no plans as reported and the Prime Minister was simply getting on with the job.
Police Inquiry
No.
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